“They Never Do Things Like This in My Neighborhood!”: New Park Along Vermont Ave. Surprises, Delights Residents

A mini-park wends its way down the middle of Vermont Ave. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

He was surprised when they put the bike lane in a while back, he said. But then this?

“They never do things like this in my neighborhood!” he laughed.

He was referring to the new mini-park that popped up around Thanksgiving between 88th and 92nd streets along Vermont Ave. — the Plaza Las Americas.

“I know, right?” I had to laugh with him. “It’s about time.”

Then, observing that he was sitting in the hot sun on the stoop in front of his building instead of under the shade of the gorgeous trees, I asked if he’d used the park yet.

“Nope,” he said.

But, he liked seeing it and knowing it was there for him.

It made the area beautiful and inviting, which are not words typically associated with South Los Angeles.

And, he added, it hadn’t been trashed yet.

Someone from maintenance cleaned it regularly, and it hadn’t been tagged up or desecrated in any way. Or, as he had feared, turned into a hotspot for drug dealers or a source of territorial dispute between some of the gangs that run in the area.

Instead, the teens that congregated there would just relax with friends after school or work out on the fitness equipment.

People took good care of it, he said, and really seemed to enjoy using it, especially in the mornings, when it was cool. And, he liked seeing the folks on horses ride through it at night every now and then.

“That’s right!” I said, explaining that I had occasionally been surprised to find horses casually strolling along 98th St. at night on their way to who knows where.

“Yeah,” he said, waving toward the southwest. “There’s some stables over that way somewhere, I guess.”

The inaugural plaque for the Plaza Las Americas sits across the streets from one of the Belizean-oriented centers in the area (which plays host to a number of members of the Belizean community). It also sports the only tags that I saw on my visit yesterday. The park is otherwise pristine. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

Women said they liked having a place to walk with their babies and visit with other mothers.

Another man suggested some programming around the park — fitness classes, picnics, events for kids — would help make people more comfortable in taking advantage of it.

All were glad it was there.

What I found most interesting about it was that it was liberally used as a cut-through.

People walking or riding their bikes along Vermont would deliberately cross to the center parkway just to be able to pass through it for those few blocks.

And, it’s no wonder.

That section of Vermont is largely devoid of sheltering trees and the sidewalk is dirty, in poor shape in some areas, and there aren’t even grass strips of parkway to break it up along some sections. It can make a pedestrian feel very exposed to the elements.

The parkway both helps create a welcoming environment for pedestrians and gives that stretch a more human-scale feel to it — a rather remarkable feat, given that residents along the corridor are separated by six lanes, space for curbside parking on either side, and a center parkway (a total of about 150 ft.).

Now, if they could only do that in more areas around South L.A.

Like here, at Avalon and Gage.

The bones of a park seem to remain at Avalon and Gage, but all the flora seem to have been yanked up or cut down. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

The bones of a great little space are there — planters, a few tree wells (albeit broken ones), nice seating — but the actual trees and plants themselves seem to have been yanked up and cut down.

Which is why, instead of sitting at the tables yesterday, the two folks on their feet chose to shelter from the hot sun in the inadequate shade of a palm tree and a pole.

The same is true along Broadway Pl., just south of King.

This triangular island at the intersection of Broadway, Broadway Pl., and 40th St. is crying out for a make-over. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

The triangular island at the intersections of Broadway, Broadway Pl. and 40th St. has two enormous trees that can shade almost the entire space at certain times of the day. Adding some trees on the north end, a few benches, and some drought-tolerant plants or maybe some garden boxes in between could make for a lovely space for residents to relax.

Considering that residents are bordered by the 110 fwy. on the west, are at least half a mile away from the nearest rec center and a tiny children’s playground, and sit more than a mile north of substantial green space (in this case, South Park), it doesn’t seem like too much to ask for from the city.

There are a number of wonderful things in the works right now to activate L.A’s streets and make them more exciting and inviting places. And, that is all well and good — I would never say that Great Streets and People Streets don’t have their place. But, sometimes, it’s the littlest things — like fixing up existing and neglected spaces and structures — that can go the farthest in making streets more livable.

The park was funded by the County of Los Angeles and the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy

Let’s hope this serves as a first step toward a full redesign of Vermont to expand the median park, narrow the roadway, slow down traffic, and improve sidewalks and bike facilities.

Kenny Easwaran

A park that people can use as a “cut through” for part of their journey on foot or bike is exactly what we need more of! It’s the future I see for the LA River, and I hope some day for some of the old stream beds that have been converted to roadways (I’m thinking of Myra and Virgil in Los Feliz/Silverlake/East Hollywood, but probably lots of others).

sahra

I didn’t realize those were stream beds. how interesting! I doubt they’ll be turned into parkways any time soon, unfortunately, but at least there’s now a bike lane on Virgil. I guess that’s a start…

Kenny Easwaran

I learned about it from this great post several years ago, and I fantasize about turning them back into parkways every day when I begin my commute on Myra and see the awful state of the pavement (in the bike lane, the mixed-use lanes, and the sidewalk).

These little public plaza areas need the Project for Public Space and the work of William Whyte, stat!

gobluth

Parks are great, just not when they’re in usable right-of-ways. This should be used as an elevated heavy rail line running to Long Beach & San Pedro; a park means that’s even less likely to ever happen.

ubrayj02

Why would we need elevated heavy rail when port container traffic is going to be decimated once the Panama Canal expansion is done in a year?

MaxUtil

A four block park is why we’re not going to build an elevated heavy rail line through the heart of a densely populated neighborhood?

Also, are you aware that they just built the Alameda corridor heavy rail project for freight movement right through this area already or the blue line train that runs to Long Beach?

I’ve wondered about that because that space has been in bad shape for a few years now. And, instead of looking better over time, the tree that was in the center of the photo was cut down in the last year or two and the broken well was never fixed. I am a big fan of the Land Trust’s work and I know that things sometimes take time, but “progress” on this one seems questionable…

gobluth

No significant number of people, outside transit-dependents, will ever use the Blue Line for commuting into Los Angeles proper, especially if they need to make connections. It’s too slow, too run-down (to attract choice riders), and has too many at-grade crossings. A heavy rail line to San Pedro and Long Beach would spur development (since it’s not in a highway median like the ‘Silver Line’) and actually make the journey in a reasonable-enough time to convince drivers to switch to transit. Alameda corridor is irrelevant since it does nothing to improve passenger service.

MaxUtil

Even if that argument were true, you’re arguing that they shouldn’t take a disused median space to make a park because it somehow decreases the chance of us building a heavy rail transit line that mirrors an existing light rail line, in a city that has its transit expansion plans mapped out for the next 30 or so years with much higher priorities than duplicating existing service. Perhaps you’re just speaking in theoreticals, in which case, sure let’s have a nice new heavy rail line! But since that isn’t going to happen in the next several decades, why not build a park?

Word On The Street

“...currently in Metro rail's budget 25% of that goes to security of the system. Not towards more service but security of the system. I wouldn't be so harsh and cynical about this had the Sheriff's been more visible at all Metro stations...”